FORTIFICATION OF SINGAPORE AND HONGKONG.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1859, 5 June 1884, Page 3

FORTIFICATION OF SINGAPORE AND HONGKONG.

Apropos of the conflict in China the Sin* gapore conespondent of the Brisbane Courier has called attention to the condition of the defences of that part. He wutes :: — •' The great coaling station of the Far East is Singapore. At the Tanjong Pagan wharf over 2000 tons of coals are stored, and quite the same quantity at the Borneo Company's wharf. Besides this there are numerous other large dep6ts of coal. All French transports, Dutch men-of-war, and passing ships of other nations call in here to coal. The importance of the place to British men-of-war is beyond calculation Yet Singapore h miserably fortified. One fort— Fort Canning —commands the town ; but most of the guns are dismounted, and war materiel away at other places. There are three or four forts at the entrance to the harbour, but the artillery people are frightened to fire the gnus for fear of the basements giving way, so badly are they constructed. We have torpedoes laid down in favourable positions, but not enough to deter a hostile fleet from ciossmg the line and getting into position to shell the town. Yon can imagine how well prepared we are to meet an enemy ! The Home Government have, in view of tiouble in the East, resolved that Singapore shall be adequately fortified ; if it is not to be made as atrong as Aden, with guns frowning from every point, it is to be put in such condition as to resist and ward off attack. So Captain Jeykyl, an authority on fortification, has been sent here to plan new defences. He has already ordered the erection of fortifications on several points that seem to have been neglected by our local engineer, Captain M'Callum, and has planned further defensive works, which will necessitate a large expenditure. After finishing at Singapore, he will proceed to that most important stronghold in the Far East, Hong Kong, and advise as to additions to its fortifications. Then he will survey the Ghusan Islands, in order that fortifications can be placed in them, in case things come to the worst. You know the French, so it was rumoured, had an eye on Chusan Isles, which their journals said would be seized as security for war expenses should China not come to terms in this Tonquin affair. The Chusan Islands, according to the Duke of Wellington, form the key to China ; whoever holds them presents a pistol at the head of the Celestial Court, and they command the whole of northern China. The British once thought of keeping them, and were much blamed for not doing so. They did the next best thing, which was that in 1846 they stipulated through Sir John Davis, Governor of Hong Kong, with the Chinese- Commissioner, that Chusan and its islets should be evacuated by her Britannic Majesty's forces, and that the said island should never -be ceded to any other power. The fourth clause in the stipulation is the most important. It runs as follows : — ' Her Britannic Majesty consents upon her part, in case of the attack of an invader, to protect Chusan and its dependencies, and' to restore it to the possession of old ;' but as this stipulation proceeds from the friendly alliance between two nations, no pecuniary subsidies are to be due from China on this account. It will, then, be seen that the occupation of this island by the French would be followed by something very like warlike action on the part of England. In order to prepare for any such contingency as a French i occupation, Captaih Jeykyl will proceed' there shortly to cbnsul'as •to the defence df Chusan and the isles surrounding it."

The news of remarkable natural phe« nomenon is reported from Bona, in Algeria. An isolated mountain, the Dshebel Naibi, 800 ft high, is sinking into the, earth. Round its foot there is a deep hollow, and before long the mountain will disappear. The district of Bona has once before witnessed a similiar event ; the Lake Fezzare, of more than 12,000 hectares, did not exist in the time of the Romans. St Agustin, who lived at Bona, described the whole district without once mentioning the lake, and researches in 1870 have resulted in the discovery of the rains of a Roman tow,n at the bottom of the lake. As in Arabian ■writings there is nothfn'g -'to be found oonoernfng the formation of the lake, it is supposed that it existed only for about 100 years. The total number of different newspapers and periodicals issued in' the world in 1882 was 33,000 odd,, made up of the following classes ?-^D>>j[]is;; r '* ™)0 odd j less frequent than daily but more frequent than weekly, 3,000 odd j ' weeklies, 18,000 odd ;' and- the remaining number made up of bi-weeklies, | lies,' quarterlies, 'occasional^ during the year. Out of this .'grand total the United States claim. to lead the way, viz.:^Unr|»d^St;»tes(rl2,.opo|pdd?j ? tGer-\ man Empire, "S^OOO oad jUnited "King(]om, 4,00,0, .odd ; (-England, '*U?n,ej gijKH), tFrancet3,2Qo t France t 3,2Q0 ,od4 aj§ffai< ,in advance o|;any oJ;b J er; I cou.nj^es.^ ,t. m l \ Mryjqhn Knox aclve^'JseiVia^irx-roonied fattaffe,w»ft coach-house, paddock, .to^t^let